K. has been increasingly interested in stair-climbing. Although I am reluctant, because it signals the beginning of the end in terms of being able to keep him somewhat contained in the house, I figure it will be best to let him practice on a semi-safe set of steps: the carpeted steps leading down to our basement.
We decided to do some practicing today (well, really, he decided, because that's pretty much what toddlers do - call the shots!) and I snapped some cute shots of him feeling extra pleased with himself.
The practicing consisted of him climbing up the steps (and saying, "higher, higher" in a really cute, concentrating voice) and then turning around and looking at me for guidance regarding what to do next.
I told him, "Now we'll go LOWER, LOWER ... which means DOWN." He looked at me quizzically, but did seem to be interested in the experiment.
Most times I successfully encouraged him to "Turn around ... put your belly on the steps ... and stretch out your legs to touch the step below." Admittedly it's a complicated set of instructions, but to his credit, K. seemed to be following most, if not all, of it.
The only scare I got was once when he did this turn-around procedure and instead of resting his stomach on the step, he proceeded to crouch there, with minimal space behind him. Before we knew it, he was actually FALLING BACKWARD ... and if I wouldn't have been exactly 10 inches away from him he quite literally would've fallen, doing backwards somersalts ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STAIRS. It makes me shudder just to think of it.
But so it goes, I suppose. Just reminds me to never, ever be too complacent when letting him try new things...
Anyway, here are some pics of our excursion, pre-almost falling episode, for your enjoyment. (BTW, sorry the pictures are somewhat misaligned - with apologies to my host, Blogger does not seem to have a very user-friendly picture posting system... ugh.)
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